If I had read the report from any other authority, I would have declared it false. Nonetheless, I still doubted it. I was hopeful that the Council was just trying to put something out just for people to know they are also working. I was wrong.
‘Sex for pad’ is basically girls sleeping with men in exchange for money so they can afford sanitary pads. The sad thing is, they do not have knowledge on the sexual health status of the people they have sex with-meaning their sexual health is at stake.
Imagine a girl who badly wants to go to school but whose parents cannot afford a 3 square balanced meal. Her parents struggle to meet her needs to the extent that buying sanitary pad is a big deal.
If the monthly menstrual period was clothes, she could decide to do away with it. But here is to the case that the period will flow anyway because she can’t control it. At a point where all hope seems to be lost, I won’t blame her if she eventually trades sex for pad.
It’s heartbreaking to know some girls can not access hygienic sanitary material in a 21st century world. Girls are still staying out of school and having sex with men so they can afford common sanitary pad.
World bank estimates that, 500million women and girls globally lack access to adequate facilities for menstrual management.
Not only are women and girls battling with sanitary pad being a luxury. They are also struggling with accessing very convenient public spaces for managing their period outside the home. No change rooms in most schools and other public spaces.
I visited Bremang-Jukwa in the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District of the Central Region of Ghana on 28th May, 2022. My purpose was to be part of the World Menstrual Hygiene Education to sensitize young people on menstruation, engage and provide them with comprehensive information on menstruation and sexual health. I thought ‘sex for pad’ was only prevalent in the ‘North’ but the sad reality is that, it is happening in Jukwa as well.
After the event, we had a thorough conversation with the headmaster of the partner school who was very happy about the kind gesture. He told us how the girls visit a nearby guest house and leave their contact behind for hook ups when visitors come to the community for funerals, and other purposes in exchange for money to provide for themselves and buy sanitary pad.
Today the least amount a girl pays for sanitary pad is 11 cedis- the current price is two times the previous price due to the economic crisis.
High cost of sanitary pad is putting girls education at risk. The big debate in most struggling homes is whether to buy gari olonka for the stomach or sanitary pad for girls. And most often, the stomach wins the argument.
Margarett, a 13 year old JHS 1 at Bremang Catholic Basic School cannot afford to buy sanitary pad and she is forced to use unhygienic material to manage her period and she sometimes misses school when the material cannot contain her heavy flow.
“I live with my mom and two sisters. Our father died when we were young, my mother is a farmer- she sometimes struggles to provide our basic needs.
She tries her best to buy 1 sanitary pad for all of us. Since that is not enough, we are forced to use rags when the pad gets finished.’’
She tells me the rags make her uncomfortable, especially when she has to share the classroom with boys, because her period might come unexpectedly.
Lack of sanitary pad for girls who cannot afford denies them access to fully participate in school, the rags however, could affect their health due to the ink used in printing the cloth.
Ending period poverty is a collective action.
I call on government , corporate organizations , individuals and the media to join the fight of eradicating period poverty….
It’s a big fight!
